PANEL DISCUSSION

Citizen-backed evidence – Engaging citizens in providing evidence synthesis and support (including for evidence-informed policy-making) 

day2

14:30–15:25 (CEST)

In this session, we are diving into ways of engaging citizens in evidence-informed policy-making from around the globe.

Imagine that citizens had the opportunity to work in partnership with the very groups that government policymakers, organizational leaders and professionals rely on for evidence synthesis and support. Here’s what that would mean. Citizens would be members of the teams that respond to questions from decision-makers. Citizens would be able to ask the questions that are important to them, and other citizens like them, and be part of the teams that also answer questions from citizens. Citizen voices would be informed by the best available evidence and their values and lived experiences would be channeled directly to those who can act on these insights. 

In this session, we are diving into ways of engaging citizens in evidence-informed policy-making from around the globe. It will provide a platform to reflect on the diverse experiences of citizen engagement for deliberative purposes, such as citizen panels, juries and mini-publics, and how trust in science is managed within this context. The session will delve into various approaches and best practices that have been utilized to promote meaningful citizen participation, enhance public understanding of scientific evidence, and foster trust in the scientific community. Participants will gain valuable insights into how trust in science is built and maintained and how citizen engagement can contribute to evidence-informed policies. Among others, the session will unpack key learnings from the WHO guidance paper, “Implementing citizen engagement within evidence-informed policy-making: An overview of purpose and methods,” and a forthcoming guide.  

This session is hosted by three groups working together to ‘put evidence at the centre of everyday life,’ including Cochrane (the world’s largest producer of evidence syntheses and home to the Cochrane Consumer Network), the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges (with one if its three implementation priorities being ‘putting evidence at the centre of everyday life,’ which is being overseen by the Citizen Leadership Group), and the World Health Organization’s Evidence-informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) with its new work on Citizen Engagement in Evidence-informed Policymaking. 

See all presentations here

Key questions and session highlights

  • What strategies have organizations applied to engage initiatives that promote citizens-backed evidence?  

  • How can citizen engagement contribute to evidence-informed policies?  

  • How do different organizations manage (dis)trust in science? 

Moderators

Maureen Smith

Co-chair, Citizen Leadership Group, Evidence Commission, Canada 

Maureen Smith is a Canadian citizen leader committed to evidence-based medicine and patient/citizen engagement in health research. Her commitment stems from her lived experience with the health system subsequent to a rare disease diagnosis in childhood. She had the honour of serving as a Commission on the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges and now co-leads its Implementation Council’s Citizen Leadership Group which advances the Evidence Commission's implementation priority to put evidence at the centre of everyday life by providing a forum for citizen leaders and leaders of citizen-serving organizations to shape thinking and action. Maureen is the chair of Cochrane’s Consumer Network Executive and is involved in several global Cochrane projects and advisory committees.
Show less Short biography
Morley-R

Richard Morley

Consumer Engagement Officer, Cochrane

Richard works for Cochrane as the Consumer Engagement Officer. He supports the engagement and involvement of healthcare consumers (patients, carers, and the public) in research, including a growing network of over 2,250 volunteers across the world in 106 countries, Cochrane groups, and a range of partnerships including the new International Network for Patient and Public Involvement in Research, of which he was a founder member. Richard is a member of the MuSE consortium investigating ways to improve stakeholder involvement in guideline development and evidence synthesis, co-convenor of the Cochrane Co-production Methods Group, and the Global Commission on Evidence Citizen Leadership Group.
Show less Short biography

 

Panelists

Wilson-R

Mike Wilson

Scientific Director of the McMaster Health Forum, McMaster University, Canada; Chair of the Editorial Group ‘WHO Citizen Engagement in EIP Guide’ 

Mike is the Scientific Director of the McMaster Health Forum, an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Evidence and Impact at McMaster University. His research is focused on harnessing and contextualizing the best-available evidence along with citizen values and stakeholder insights to strengthen health and social systems. Mike and the Forum’s scientific team produce timely and demand-driven contextualized evidence syntheses that address pressing health and social system issues faced by decision-makers. This includes evidence syntheses produced within days (e.g., rapid evidence profiles or living evidence profiles), weeks (e.g., rapid syntheses that combine policy, system and/or political analyses) and months (e.g., systematic reviews or living evidence syntheses that are updated and enhanced over time). Mike also leads projects designed to spark action by convening citizen panels to identify citizens’ values and preferences and stakeholder dialogues to support collective problem solving among government policymakers, system and organizational leaders, professional leaders and citizens.
Show less Short biography
Panich-R

Vicharn Panich

Chairman of International Organizing Committee, Prince Mahidol Award Conference, Thailand

Professor Vicharn Panich was the founding director of the Thailand research Fund where he served for eight years. From 2003 to 2008 and later was te founding director of Knowledge Management Institute. Some of his previous responsibilities are; chairman of Mahidol University Council, director of Siam Commercial Bank, chairman of the Higher Education Council, member of more than 10 university councils, member of WHO’s Advisory Council on Health Research. Now he is the chairman of Arsomsilp Institute Council and sits in the university council of other two universities. He serves as chairman of the board of 7 foundations and member of the board of 3 foundations. He has written 27 books on education, 6 books on university governance or management, 5 books on knowledge management, 3 books on human genetics, 2 books on research management, and 2 books on organization management, all in Thai.
Show less Short biography
avatar

Clara Abou Samra

K2P Centre, WHO Collaborating Center for Evidence Informed Policy and Practice, Lebanon

TBD
Show less Short biography

 

Laura Boeira

Director, Latin American and the Caribbean Evidence Hub, Brazil

PhD candidate in Social Psychology at PUCRS. Executive Director of Instituto Veredas, a Brazilian NGO dedicated to knowledge translation for public policies.
Show less Short biography

 

Bellantoni

Alessandro Bellantoni

Head of the Open Government, Civic Space, and Public Communication Unit, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), France

Alessandro Bellantoni joined the OECD in 2009, where he is the Head of Open Government, Public Communication, and Civic Space Unit. Previously, he worked in the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation of the Government of Italy on projects related to the use of digital government solutions to improve public services for citizens, for the United Nations (WFP and ILO), and in civil society with a focus on Middle Eastern countries. He holds a Master of Science in Social Anthropology and Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science of the University of London. For more information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abellantoni/
Show less Short biography

 

 

Ogembo

Brenda Ogembo

Principal Clerk Assistant and the Deputy Head of the Senate Liaison Office at the Parliament of Kenya, Kenya

Brenda Ogembo is a public policy and governance expert who is passionate about championing democracy and good governance. She is a Principal Clerk Assistant in the Senate, Parliament of Kenya. In this role, she serves as the principal policy advisor on devolution and intergovernmental relations to the Senate Clerk and Speaker of the Parliament of Kenya. Her primary research and professional competencies are policy and legislative development, devolution, and civic engagement. She actively researches and advocates greater public deliberation in governance institutions, focusing on the Global South. Brenda holds a PhD in Politics (Local Government Studies) from the University of Birmingham, UK; a Master of Arts (Public Policy) from Kings College, London; and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from Strathmore University in Kenya.
Show less Short biography

 

 

 

 

Interactive session

Citizen participation: engagement strategies for deliberative processes to foster trust in science

Participants will have the opportunity to identify and discuss tools and their potentialities for citizen engagement in deliberative processes, such as in citizen panels, juries and mini-publics. These processes are key for evidence-informed policies as giving citizens voice, increasing accountability, transparency and societal trust. Participants will also be asked to highlight key-topics for a learning agenda and health topics that would particularly benefit from citizen deliberation. 

The collective reflection and insights from the session will be captured using digital interactive whiteboards. This will ensure a comprehensive record of the participants’ appraisal and contribute to a rich and diverse body of knowledge on evidence-informed policy-making. 

 

Key questions and session highlights

  • What are the benefits of tools/methods for citizen engagement for deliberative purposes? What are the challenges perceived? 

  • What are key-topics of interest for further learning around citizen engagement in deliberative processes?  

  • For which health topics would it be particularly appropriate and/or important to deliberate evidence with citizens?